Wireless networks may provide packet data services to wireless communication devices (WCDs). For example, a wireless network may include one or more packet gateways to one or more packet data networks. A WCD may request a packet data connection and, if the wireless network is able to authenticate the WCD for the request, the wireless network may connect the WCD to one of the packet data networks through one of the packet gateways.
The authentication process may involve a number of different steps in which various network entities exchange various messages. However, each network entity involved in the authentication process may be able to reliably handle only a certain number of such messages within a given period of time. If a network entity involved in the authentication process receives a flood of messages that exceeds that entity's capacity to handle reliably, then the authentication process may fail for one or more WCDs. A flood of authentication messages may occur, for example, when a relatively large number of WCDs request packet data connections at about the same. Thus, in some situations, a WCD that is in fact authorized to establish a packet data connection may be unable to do so simply because a network entity involved in the authentication process is overwhelmed by a temporary high volume of authentication messages.